<table> </table> My father, a man who appreciates the value of a buck, always loved doubleheaders. Because of that, I love them. Dad would take us kids to a doubleheader almost every year of my childhood. This was back in the 1970s &#8212; back when you didn&#8217;t need a rainout to create a doubleheader. They scheduled them throughout the year.</p><p>Not everyone likes doubleheaders, of course, especially when it involves bad baseball teams. I remember years ago when the Atlanta newspaper asked readers to come up with a slogan for the Braves, who were awful then. The most colorful of them: &#8220;Braves baseball: It beats getting tattooed with a jack-hammer &#8230; unless it&#8217;s a doubleheader.&#8221;</p><p>Dad didn&#8217;t buy into that. Free baseball was free baseball. He believed &#8212; still does believe &#8212; in the philosophy of two for the price of one. He would circle doubleheaders on the calendar. Then he piled me and my brother into the Chevy Nova, no matter the weather, and we would sit behind a metal beam at decrepit Cleveland Municipal Stadium, alternately freezing and sweating, and we watched bad baseball for seven hours on a doubleheader Sunday with about 586 other people.</p><p>Those are some of the happiest days of my life.</p><p>So there was no way I was going to miss Thursday&#8217;s doubleheader between the Royals and Oakland Athletics. The Royals, you probably know, are on pace to lose more than 90 games for the seventh time in eight years. The A&#8217;s, improbably, are worse. Well, their record is better at the moment, but the better part of that record was compiled before general manager Billy Beane decided to trade half the team on the Home Shopping Network. The A&#8217;s have lost 35 of their last 47 games.</p><p>The day was not disappointing. When the first game started Thursday afternoon, there were roughly 586 people in the stands. A cold mist fell. The Royals made three base-running blunders in the first four innings. It felt like going back in time. The only thing missing was my brother saying he was bored, and my dad having to buy him some incredibly unhealthy-looking food items to keep him quiet.</p><p>The great sportswriter Red Smith used to say that baseball is only dull to those with dull minds. Of course, he didn&#8217;t even watch Darrell May pitch, but the point is good: Every baseball game features some interesting moments. And every doubleheader features twice as many.</p><p>On Thursday, we saw Oakland base runner Daric Barton somehow get hurt on a balk. He was on first, Royals closer deluxe Joakim Soria balked, and next thing you knew the trainer was rushing out to check on Barton. He courageously played on.</p><p>We saw Oakland third baseman Jack Hanrahan make one of the best defensive plays of the year &#8212; he dived to his right on a hard ground ball by Miguel Olivo, smothered the ball in foul territory, scrambled to his feet, threw across the diamond, got his man by a half step, it was like watching an old Brooks Robinson film clip.</p><p>We saw the Royals future, Billy Butler, crack three doubles against two left-handed pitchers. Butler is now hitting .357 against left-handers this year with a .627 slugging percentage; both numbers are among the best in the American League.</p><p>I know those numbers surprised me a bit. This has been such a tough year for the Royals that it is often hard to see much good. And Butler was such a dominant minor-league hitter that his overall performance this year has seemed like a disappointment. He has struggled against right-handed pitching, he was sent to the minors for a while, he has not convinced the Royals to play him in the field more often. Still, it&#8217;s good to step back. Butler is only 22 years old, and he is absolutely crushing left-handed pitching, and the ball is jumping off his bat again. There is a lot to be excited about with him.